This is the last Hangouts holdout before Google Chat takes over
The end of the road for the aging Google Hangouts messaging service has been dreary and, perhaps, overdrawn. The former all-in-one text and video chat app had been supposedly supplanted twice over by the intergenerational Allo and Duo before Google Chat and Meet eventually came to the fore. But now, we finally have a date of when we can actually say goodbye to the service.
As of now, all that remains of Google Hangouts is its web portal. Even there, users will see a message prompting them to move over to Google Chat. But Hangouts is still remains available to use for anyone interested and for the next two months.
Google has announced on its Workspace Updates blog that it will redirect Hangouts users on the web to Chat starting November 1. This is the last step in the transition from Hangouts to Chat which included moves for users of the Hangouts mobile app, Chrome extension, and Gmail sidebar earlier this summer.
Users will be notified via email about a month prior to shutdown and will be reminded to export their data if it’s the case where Google anticipates the automatic message transfer over to Chats doesn’t work out for some users.
If Google’s willing to stand still for a moment on its messaging apps, this could be the last farewell we’ll need to bid for a long time. But if you’re already weepy-eyed, you can check out our smartly-written eulogy for Hangouts which we had up all the way back in 2021.
